Structural Oscillation Revealed in Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

Oscillation is an intriguing phenomenon in nature. However, structural oscillation has not yet been found in semiconducting nanoparticles, primarily due to the difficulty of structural resolution at the atomic level. The emergence of gold nanoclusters (ultrasmall nanoparticles) has provided an excellent opportunity to address some challenging issues in the nanoparticle field. Herein, two Au₂₈(CHT)₂₀ (CHT: cyclohexanethiolate) structural isomers (Au_28i and Au_28ii for short) were concurrently synthesized by employing a quasi-antigalvanic method, and they could be reversibly transformed into each other for at least 10 cycles, driven by dissolution and crystallization processes. The transformation from Au_28ii to Au_28i is solvent-dielectric-constant-dependent, with a notable deuteration effect from dichloromethane. The markedly different photoluminescence values of these two isomers not only have important implications for the structure–property correlations but also have potential applications in converting, sensing, etc.